As a model for similar facilities globally, the R&A’s investment into the Golf It! project in Glasgow – which opened last year – is already reaping benefits whilst also being recognised for its commitment to environmental and social responsibility and leadership in sustainable golf.
The Golf It! facility on the shores of Hogganfield Loch – a vast indoor and outdoor innovation which includes adventure golf, community putting greens, double-decker floodlit driving range, 9-hole family golf course and other attractions including padel tennis courts, nature trails and street food-style dining – has achieved GEO Certified level for international sustainability which positions it as a model for other developments around the world to aspire to.
Russell Smith, general manager at Golf It!, said, “The achievement of GEO Certification for Golf It! underlines our commitment to sustainability and the efforts we are making to ensure that golf has a positive impact on the environment and provides real value to people living in local communities.
“We have worked tirelessly to develop a venue which allows people to enjoy the many health benefits of golf with their family and friends and promotes the importance of time spent outdoors in the fresh air. It reflects the requirements of a sustainable golf development which many other facilities worldwide can look to in the progression of their own venues and activities.”
Word of Mouth
“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in. It was kind of right centre with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in” – Wyndham Clark on the birdie putt on the 72nd hole of The Players which seemed to defy physics and horse-shoed out. Clark missed out on a playoff by one stroke as Scottie Scheffler became the first player – in the tournament’s 50th anniversary – to successfully defend the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
By the Numbers – 2-2-1
Tom McKibbin – who won the Porsche European Open last year – will be aiming to win a second tournament sponsored by the luxury car brand when he competes in the Porsche Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour this week at Laguna National. Shane Lowry, who has crossed 12 time zones to move on from Florida to Singapore, makes it two Irish players in the field.
Leona Maguire returns to tournament action after a two-week break when she joins Stephanie Meadow in the field for the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship at Palos Verdes in California on the LPGA Tour.
Séamus Power is the lone Irishman in the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour.
John Catlin takes the road less travelled to latest victory
Globe-trotting is part and parcel of the sport for professional golfers but you’ve got to tip the cap to American John Catlin’s criss-crossing of time zones in fashioning out his career.
A winner of the Irish Open at Galgrom Castle in 2020 when Covid restrictions were in play, Catlin – a three-time winner on the DP World Tour – lost his tour status on the European circuit last year and has basically gone back to where he kick-started his career on the Asian Tour ... and with spectacular success.
Catlin became the first player ever to post a sub-60 on the Asian circuit when he shot a 59 in the third round of the inaugural International Series Macau and then went on to beat Spain’s David Puigh – who is on LIV – in a sudden-death playoff.
The win gave Catlin the 12th win of his career which includes a number on development tours in Asia. “We made that a little more difficult than we had to,” Catlin had remarked to his caddie Barry Cornwall when it was all over. It also extended a nice little statistic for the 33-year-old Californian, who has never lost a play-off.
On this day ... March 19th, 1972
Tony Jacklin had arrived in Jacksonville – a favoured tour stop for the Englishman – showing good form. He’d finished tied-sixth in the Bing Crosby National pro-am and fourth in both the Phoenix Open and the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic.
And rounds of 70-71-74-68 for a five-under-par total of 283 gave the Englishman a place in the playoff where he beat American John Jacobs to win his second Greater Jacksonville Open tournament. Remarkably, no English golfer would win again on the PGA Tour until 1983, when Nick Faldo won the Heritage.
Jacklin won his first Greater Jacksonville Open at Deerwood in 1968 and claimed a second win at Hidden Hills in sudden death, where he holed a six-footer at the first tie hole to win.
The win was a special one for Jacklin. In a career where he won 29 professional titles in 13 countries, it was the only city where he managed to win twice.
X-Twitter Twaddle
If you are looking to improve in competitive play, whether it’s a club championship or making it to the PGA Tour, this new book from @practicalgolf will help you. I can personally vouch for this since I use these tools when I play – Maverick McNealy endorsing “The Foundations of Winning Golf” (by Jon Sherman).
This is some of the highest quality golf I’ve ever watched – Max Homa – who’d finished his final round long before the business part of the deal – at least enjoyed the finale to The Players from the comfort of his armchair.
The final tally is in. There were 58 eagles total @ThePlayers, raising $340,000 for the @FirstTee in Morgan Stanley’s #EaglesForImpact program – The PGA Tour’s official X platform confirming the final sum for the charitable cause from the eagles at Sawgrass.
In the Bag
Scottie Scheffler – The Players Championship
Driver – TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees)
3-wood – TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Irons – Srixon ZU85 (3-4); TaylorMade P-7TW (5-PW)
Wedges – Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50, 56 and 60 degrees)
Putter – TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck prototype
Ball – Titleist ProV1
Know the Rules
Q
On a par 3, Player A’s tee shot might be lost so they play a provisional ball which is holed. Player A does not wish to look for the original ball, but Player B does go to look for it. Before Player A lifts the provisional ball from the hole, Player B finds Player A’s original ball in some thick rough near the green. What is the ruling?
A
Player A, in such a situation, must abandon the provisional ball and continue with the original ball (Clarification 18.3c(2)/3). The score with the provisional ball that has been holed only becomes the player’s score for the hole when the player lifts the ball from the hole before the original ball has been found in bounds.
